Cass County Board of Commissioners unanimously vote to dissolve its ‘committee of the whole’ meeting format

During its Thursday, December 4 meeting, District 7 Commissioner Roseann Marchetti “bit the bullet” and added a discussion item to “dissolve the committee of the whole” under new business.

Once the item was introduced, commissioners discussed the pros and cons of keeping the committee versus eliminating it. Several commissioners noted the committee has been created and dissolved at various points in the board’s history.

Commissioner Marchetti said she and other commissioners had discussed dissolving the committee and that she chose to formally bring the matter to the floor.

“We are constantly having to have special meetings…there’s too much business that comes up in between times,” Marchetti said. “We would still have a meeting on the third Thursday, but it would be a regular business meeting at that time. I would just like to know how other people feel about it. I have talked to the administrator about it as well. As I said, the time has come because we have a new year coming up, so we can decide now.”

Chair Jeremiah Jones said the purpose of the committee of the whole was to allow more time to digest agendas and give sponsors of new business items an opportunity to answer questions before votes were taken.

“If we do dissolve the [committee], just know that there are still gonna be special meetings. We still get the agenda the Friday before, and I encourage that as soon as you get the agenda, you be here finding out about it and asking questions, so there should be no excuses for anybody not to know what’s going on and what you’re voting on come Thursday afternoon,” Jones said.

“My point is that if we get rid of it, there are positives and negatives. If we have it, then we’ve got plenty of time to digest everything. If we don’t have it, there are gonna be things that come up last minute and we’re still gonna have to have special meetings, or you’re gonna have to vote on something and—like you said—‘eat a bullet’ and table it to digest it further. But still, we’re gonna have another special meeting.”

Jones is referencing the additional time the committee of the whole meetings provide commissioners to understand and digest agenda items, acknowledging that commissioners will have to do more work before meetings to get familiar with items on their own. 

Commissioner Sam Barrera also supported eliminating it to “streamline some of our business items,” he said. Chair Jones concurred, saying, “I’m good with that too.”

Commissioner Michael Grice, who served on the board during a period when there was committee, also expressed support.

“We were having meeting after meeting after meeting, and we weren’t accomplishing too much in the [committee] meeting because you had the agenda in front of you,” Grice said. “And like you said, you still can come in and ask questions and be ready. Now, in the [committee] meetings, we just come and we go, and it’s just pushing the paperwork to the regular meeting.”

After discussion, commissioners voted unanimously to dissolve the Committee of the Whole, effective January 8, when their next meeting is scheduled. Commissioners James Lawrence, Alan Northrop, Sam Barrera, Roseann Marchetti, RJ Lee, Michael Grice, and Chair Jeremiah Jones all voted in favor. District 1 Commissioner Thomas Langley was absent.

What is the committee of the whole?

A committee of the whole is a meeting format used by the Cass County Board of Commissioners that allows all commissioners to meet in a more informal setting before taking formal action at a regular business meeting. In a session, no final votes are taken, commissioners can ask detailed questions about upcoming agenda items, sponsors of new business or department heads can provide additional context, and the board can workshop ideas or identify issues that may require more research.

Cass County has used and discontinued this format at different times. With Thursday’s vote, commissioners will shift those discussions to their regular business meetings or to special meetings called as needed.

Maxwell Knauer is a staff writer for Watershed Voice.